Abstract: This essay examines the transcultural consumption of new Korean masculinity in Japan using the star construction of Bae Yong-Joon byj/aka
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Localized global/regional masculinity BYJ The mom-zzang syndrome has led a boom of the well-being/mom-zzang marketing in almost every industrial sector. The Korean entertainment industry was not an exception. In particular, star management companies adopt mom-zzang marketing to produce their ‘star’ images. Korean fe/male stars are soon transformed to mom-zzang through hard training, exercises, yoga and diet. Especially Korean male Hallyu stars aggressively employ their mom-zzang images to approach the foreign (mostly Asian) audiences. This phenomenon reinforces the hybridity of Korean masculinity along with the kkon-mi-nam syndrome. The Korean male Hallyu stars boldly cultivate their hybridized sexual images to appeal to the complex desires of regional audiences. The ideal amalgamation between femininity (kkon-mi-nam) and masculinity (mom-zzang) of Korean male stars reflects a specific Korean – and Pan-Asian – ideal of a new masculinity. This ideal form of hybrid masculinity implies localization of global masculinity (mom-zzang) and regional masculinity (kkon-mi-nam). BYJ is an excellent example of this concept of new masculinity as he aggressively displays the hybridised masculinity in his works including dramas, films, commercials and photo albums. Among these various works, the photo album and photo exhibition particularly highlight his mom-zzang body. In November 2004, BYJ released his first photo album The Image: Volume One to commemorate the 10th year of his acting career, followed by photo exhibitions in the major cities in Japan and Korea (Yun 2005). The photo exhibition was held in Seoul, Busan (Korea), Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo (Japan). The exhibitions were attended by more than 600,000 fans and the total earnings were donated to various charitable organizations in both countries (Yun 2005). These exhibitions and photo album have created a big impact in Asia because BYJ has shown a totally different side of his image by showing off his muscular and semi-nude body. [Insert image 5 here] For this mom-zzang project, BYJ had to spend the entire three months to only train his body with his personal trainer in California and finally created a whole new body. In Japan, despite the high price of the photo album – 14,700 yen (AU$170), the 50,000 limited editions were sold out in 5 days. Reprinting meant that more than 200,000 copies of photo books were sold in Japan (K. S. Lee 2004). Soft body of Wen Masculinity From the photo album, BYJ displays the images of a tough, dark and bloody muscular fighter, unlike his previous soft and tender image. There are three general responses from the 18 Japanese fans I interviewed, regarding his new mom-zzang body; four fans hated it (some even denied it); two fans liked it; and twelve fans reluctantly liked it. Na and Cha meet the first category; Na said “I don’t like those (muscular and half naked) images. I think they are too sexy.” Cha even said “I didn’t have a look at them yet because I’m afraid that my BYJ fantasy might be destroyed.” She denies BYJ’s new sexy look because she still desires her imagined memory inscribed by Kang Joon-Sang from Winter Sonata. On the other hand, only two find him sexy based on those photos. Ba stated: “I actually became a fan after I saw the photo exhibition. Before this I thought he was just a boring man. Only for those old bored ajumma (middle-aged woman), but from those photos I found him very sexy. Then I started watching his dramas.” Ba is a single woman in her mid-forties. She runs a private English language school and studied in America for five years when she was young. I assume that her background of overseas experience could have given her a different view on BYJ’s muscular body from the other middle-aged Japanese fans. However I will not further discuss the Ba’s case in depth because her opinion is in the minority. The majority of my interviewees show the tendency of reluctant reception for his new sexy body. Ga explained: “I was so shocked and disappointed when I first saw his nude (and sex scenes) from the movie Untold Scandal. I was even crying. (…) when I saw his photo album, finally I decided to take it as one of his challenges and I respect his efforts.” Sa said “He wasn’t just trying to sell his body through selling photo books. That was a kind of fan service. Also he donates the entire profits to the poor in Asian countries. I respect his works and his will power.” As observed from these comments, the majority of his Japanese fans do not accept BYJ’s sexy masculine body as it is. Unlike Ba’s open attitude towards his new sexy images, the last group actually add some explanations and other reasons as a precondition of acceptance. As Ga and Sa explained above, it is not his sexy and muscular body they desire; it is something else such as his will power or challenging spirit. Because Ga is one of the most dedicated fans, who is in her mid-fifties she has travelled to Korea to meet BYJ three times during the first half of 2005; she confessed that BYJ is a kind of ‘religion’ for her. Therefore, it is possible to assume that no matter what kind of work BYJ has done, Ga would ‘religiously’ believe that it is worth consuming and she would create justifiable reasons for herself. Some of these ‘reluctant receivers’ suggest other reasons to receive his new images. Ra said: “I saw his dark and mean side from those photos. I love to discover his other sides.” Ja also said “It’s okay for me. They are very different from the previous images of his dramas but attractive. But I still prefer the tender and soft side (of him).” In relation to the reception of his sexy muscular images, Ra and Ja stressed discovering the different aspects and other side of BYJ, rather than receiving his mom-zzang body as it is. As observed from the above four comments from the reluctant receivers, it is evident that they commonly praised BYJ’s effort, will power and spirit. Instead of desiring his sexy body itself, these middle-aged Japanese female fans desire his star persona such as his mentality and cultured manners. This is evident in the questionnaire answers for the question “please explain the most significant aspect of BYJ which attracts you the most”. Among 56 participants, more than half of them (32) answered that they are attracted to BYJ because of his personality and “the way he lives and thinks” – which includes ideas such as sincerity, seriousness, humbleness, will-power and hardworking. Han described her reasons as follows: “[His] appearance is very good. But I’m attracted to what he has inside. Sincerity, humbleness, he always takes his life seriously. He always tries to progress and to become better with challenging spirit like building up his body for a photo book. He has the most important male value inside of him.” Han insists that his mature mentality is the most important factor which makes him an ideal male figure. For her, his muscular body only reinforces his mature mentality. Given their explanations about BYJ’s mom-zzang body, it is clear that these Japanese fans desire his masculinity in the framework of receiving his mentality not his sexy body. This tendency can be conceptualized through Kam Louie’s theory of “Chinese Masculinities” (Louie 2002). He argues that the paradigm of the “binary opposition between wen the mental or civil, and wu the physical or martial” fit Chinese masculinity, which can not possibly be explained in contemporary Western conceptions of maleness (2002:10). This theory can be broadly applied to the concept of East-Asian masculinities as it is based on the notion of Confucianism which holds a deep influence over East-Asian cultures. According to the dyad wen-wu, an ideal man would be expected to embody a balance of wen and wu (2002:11). However, historically wen tended to be considered superior to wu. Because Confucius is the god of wen, in China the strict Confucian country, wen – mental attainment – was often considered a more elite masculine form than wu – physical attainment (2002:17-18). In the case of BYJ, the Japanese fans seem to focus on his wen masculinity – mental and cultural attainment. In order to explain the concept of wen masculinity, Chinese Studies scholar Riyan Wang suggests the idea of “soft” masculinity demonstrated by traditional talented scholars. She states: “the sexual attractiveness of such educated males mostly derives from their cultural cultivation and literary talent. Masculinity displayed through cultural or literary engagement is soft (although by no means weak) in contrast to that of ‘tough guys with muscles’” (Wang 2003). According to Wang, wen signifies the cultural/cultured/civil which indicates soft masculinity while wu signifies the physical, indicating hard masculinity. However, this dichotomous wen-wu concept does not seem to explain the Japanese fans’ desire for BYJ’s muscular body. These fans desire his muscular – wu – body by means of his effort and will power of cultivation – wen. No matter how sexy and muscular his body is, for the Japanese fans, it only signifies his mentality and civil-ness. As mentioned above, in Confucian societies, historically wen was considered to be superior to wu. Therefore these fans, who must have been influenced by the Japanese Confucian tradition, would prefer wen masculinity to wu masculinity. That the Japanese fans prioritise wen above wu is detected by some other quotes, as seen below. A couple of interviewees, who do not like his muscular body, still repetitively emphasized that they like BYJ because of his manly attitudes or masculine images. However, their perception of “manly” and “masculine” are somewhat different from the general Western concepts of those terms. Ka explained: “(BYJ is manly) because he is such a faithful, loyal and sincere person (…) He donated such a large amount of money [to the poor and the sick people in Asia]. He always says that he’ll return the blessing [from his fans] to the fans. I respect such loyalty.” Ka adds “Maybe because Korean men serve the army, they seem reliable.” Cha said: “Compared to Japanese actors, they [Korean actors] seem more mature [that’s why they are manlier]. As observed, for the Japanese fans, the terms “manly” and “masculine” are understood within the orthodox paradigm of human virtues such as “sincerity” “loyalty” and “maturity”. As a central Confucian virtue, yi – righteousness – is “supposed to encase ideas of loyalty, faithfulness, friendship and honour” (Louie 2002: 36), BYJ’s cultured manner and civil body exemplifies Confucian wen masculinity. Gan said: “BYJ is soft, humble, sincere and loyal. He is a man like a real man” Gan described BYJ as a man like a “real man” (Otokorashii Otoko) mentioning his softness and loyalty. These participants’ responses all focus on how manly BYJ is, while also highlighting his wen-masculinity. In particular, apart from Gan, three more participants/interviewees used the term “Otokorashii Otoko” to indicate BYJ’s wen-masculinity. Its literary meaning is “a man like a man”, and it can be translated as “a man of men”, “a man like a real man” or “manly like a man should be”. Again, the Japanese fans desire his wen – soft body as a form of ideal masculinity. This tendency proves that Japanese fans desire BYJ by means of looking for the traditional virtues not by yearning for a physically attractive muscular body. Japanese fans desire his post-modern mom-zzang body through the paradigm of wen masculinity, a pre-modern ideology. In the case of Japanese fans’ desire of BYJ’s masculinity, according to my field research, the major driving force is counter-coevality. That is evident in the Japanese fans’ consumption practice of BYJ’s soft body – hybrid masculinity – where they fulfil their desires of nostalgic memories of the virtues of past societies. Conclusion The middle-aged Japanese female fandom of Korean actor BYJ can be conceptualized through the disjunctive post/modern paradigm of time and space between the two countries. This is a reflection of what Appadurai has claimed: “space and time are themselves socialized and localized through complex and deliberate practices of performance, representation, and action” (1996: 180). This is evident in a post-modern representation of BYJ’s hybrid masculinity as a form of transcultural product based upon the cultural and geographical proximity and nostalgic desire of Japanese fans based on the different temporal experience. As examined through the popular contemporary Asian male images of kkon-mi-nam and bishonen, BYJ represents the hybridized Asian masculinity which is constructed through the repetitive intra-Asian transcultural flows. In addition, mom-zzang image expanded BYJ’s hybrid masculinity into the global scale, which implies metrosexuality. This localization of regional and global masculinity subsequently creates mu-kuk-jok of BYJ’s body, which enables the transcultural fandom of BYJ in Japan and other Asian countries. For middle-aged Japanese female fans, his mu-kuk-jok hybrid masculinity, which demonstrates a feminine, pre-modern and soft body, is nothing but an apparatus to travel to their “past”. This can be conceptualized as consumption of memories and nostalgia through desiring other’s primitiveness, in this case, BYJ’s soft body. BYJ is commoditized, stereotyped and fetishized through the Japanese fans’ gaze that is looking for the “otherness” of traditional or exotic cultures based on their sense of counter-coevality and imperialistic view. As examined the Japanese fans’ responses to BYJ’s mom-zzang body, this counter-coevality is also evident in their pre-modernistic interpretations of his post-modern body. As mentioned earlier, BYJ’s hybrid masculinity (kkon-mi-nam and mom-zzang) is an embodiment of complex pan-Asian female fantasy and a manifestation of contradictory global male desires. In particular, his mom-zzang body represents the coeval ideology of global lifestyle. However, Japanese fans still desire his post-modern body through traditional teleology – in a framework of wen masculinity of Confucianism. As examined from Frow’s argument, through his hybrid masculinity, these fans desire their commoditized memories and nostalgia which have never existed. This exemplifies the world’s real unreality, which only emphasizes the other’s primitiveness and our (Japanese) modernity. Given the idea of otokorashii otoko (a man like a real man/a man amongst men) which implies traditional wen masculinity, it is clear that the Japanese fans desire their “past” in BYJ’s “present” body. This is evidence of Japanese fans’ counter-coeval gaze towards Korea and Korean culture. The middle-aged Japanese female fans invigorate their nostalgic fantasy through desiring the hybridized Korean masculinity, exemplified by Bae Yong-Joon. In this respect, it is noteworthy what BYJ has chosen a blockbuster epic about a loyal King of Kokuryo Dynasty – Taewangsashinki (2007) for his next television drama series. 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Sun Jung is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne in Australia, currently researching on “Global Korean popular culture and Transcultural Consumption”. Jung’s research is based on audience reception research in the various cultural markets includes Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Bhutan and Australia. Jung has postgraduate qualifications in cinema studies and communications. Jung also has previous professional experience as a reporter/journalist in the field of journalism as well as a scriptwriter for Korean film productions. Contact: Name: Sun Jung Address: 10/841 Park St. Brunswick West, VIC 3055 Australia Tel: 61-0400045680/61-8344-3495 / Email: s.jung@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au |